Safety razor



Feb. 23, 1943.

J. MUROS ETAL SAFETY RAZOR Filed March 16, 1942 Patented Feb. 23, 1943 SAFETY RAZOR p cnh Mums, a b e,

and Theodore L.

Smith, Concord, Mass assignors to. Gillette Safety Razor. Company, Boston, Mass, a cor-..

n dti t le alr m A lication March.16, 1942; Serial N 3 3 5 .Claims.

Thisinvention relates to safety razors and consists in a blade-clamping member or cap of novel construction. Safety razor caps have heretofore been generally manufactured from brass, aluminum, or other relatively soft metals or alloys in integral form by a series of-dieshaping-operations. Such caps usually include a blade-locating ribor blade-locating studs and a threaded stud engageable by a correspondingly threaded handle member for clamping the blade between the cap and guard members of the razor. The formation of the cap as an in,- tegral member necessitates several specialoperi ations in which the cap, must be securely, and accurately held with respect to operating 'tools For example, in a cap having an integral threaded stud the operations of; facing the stud for length and" threading it requires the most accurate locating of the whole cap withrelation to the facing and; threading tools. The cap, moreover, having concave and convex surfaces. is difficult to hold securely for machining and holding mechanism of; jig-type is, therefor, required-for the operations in question.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cap of such construction. that it may be formed. fr m. a numb r. ie ro c d ndividually by simple automatic operations, and fitting together so that the assembled parts may. be united to form a rigid cap having all the ad.- vantages in respect to accuracy of dimensions realized in integral caps heretofore manufac tured by the use of what has amounted tojigs and fixtures.

With this object in View an important feature of our invention consists in an outer; concave member which includes one, or part of one, of the blade-clamping surfaces of the safety-razor and spaced parallel shoulders or flanges, in combination with an inner blade-positioning member having a rib or other blade-locating projections and a base fitting between said shoulders or flanges, together with a threaded stud, all arranged to be assembled in interlocking relation and adapted to be easily, permanently and accurately secured in the structure of the complete cap. 1

These and other features of the invention will be best understood and al preciatedv from the following description of a preferred embodimerit thereof selected for purposes ofillustration and shown in the. accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1- 'is a plan view of the sheet metal blank the two sides of the folded blank are turned outwardly to flanges; Y

Fig. 5 is a similar View showingthe inverted piece after it has been drilled and counterbored; v

Fig. 6 is a view in elevation of the complete provide oppositely extending blade-positioning member with the threaded stud in place;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of the blank from which the outer member of the cap is made, after it has been subjected to a first swagingoperation;

Fig. 8 is a similar view showing this member of: the cap at the conclusion of the final swaging operation and provided with a recess for the head of the stud; Fig, 9 is a View in perspective of the completed cap;

Fig. 10 isa sectional view on the line Ill-l0 of Fig. 9-; and H i I Fig. 11' is a view in perspective of amodified p In manufacturing the cap herein illustrated a rectangular blank of soft sheet steel is first provided for the inner or blade-positioning member of the cap and in cutting or" dieing this flat blank from sheet stock rectangular end notches II] are provided therein. The inner transverse edge ofeach notch I0 is projected slightly into the body of the blank 'as'fa transverse slit Il. Preferably, but not necessarily, sheet steel approximately'.040 in thickness and of a composition permitting it to be doubl ed without cracking is selected for the material of the blank.

The next step ofthe manufacturing process consists in folding the blank double about its longitudinal axis, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and in this operation the end notches I0 become corner notches of half their original width. The third step of the process consists in bending outwardly and oppositely the marginal portions of the folded blank to providea base made up or a pair of substantially flat or'slighly concave flanges l2 and an upstanding centrally disposed rib l3. The length of the rib is determined by the depth of the original end notches l although if preferred the rib might be reduced to the proper length at this stage of the manufacturing process by a straddle milling operation. The rib, of course, is just twice the thickness of the base flanges 12. In bending the flanges 12 the slits ll permit the inner edges of the flanges to be brought into substantial contact, as shown in Fig. 4, although the meeting edges of the flanges are separated slightly on the side opposite from the rib l3 by a narrow V-shaped channel.

The partially formed bladeepositioning member is now inverted, as suggested in Fig. 5, and drilled with a central hole I4 of a diameter to receive a selected threaded stud and this hole is counterbored to provide a recess IE to receive the circular head of the stud. In Fig. 6 is shown the completed blade-positioning member assembled loosely with the threaded stud l6 projecting upwardly through the rib l3 and with its head I! partially received within the recess I5.

' .H-aving completed the inner or blade-positioning member of the cap we now proceed to fashion the outer member or the blade-clamping portion of the cap as suggested in Figs. 7 and 8. To this end, a flat rectangular blank of sheet steel is first prepared equal in length to the blade-positioning member but approximately twice as wide and about .040 in thickness. The flat blank is first subjected to a forming or bending operation imparting to it the shape shown in Fig. 7,-that is to say, a wide flat central channel l2 defined by slightly divergent edge flanges 2!. The partially for-med blank is then subjected to a further swaging operation in which the marginal flanges 21 are tapered in cross-section to a thin edge and given a slightly increased convexity in transverse contour. A circular recess 22 is formed in the bed of the channel 20 to receive that portion of the stud head I! 'which projects beyond the lower surface of the blade-positioning member. Both the head ll of the stud and the bottom of the recess 22 are knurled or corrugated in order positively to prevent rotation of the stud [6 in the assembled cap.

The cap is completed by securing its three pieces permanently in assembled position. This may be done by tinning the parts and sweating them together by heating the assembly or by spot welding the flanges [2 of the blade-positioning member to the outer member of the cap. By whatever method is employed the completed cap results as illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10. The width of flanges I2 is such that the blade-positioning member fits accurately into the channel 20 and is held positively in place and in interlocking engagement by the opposed shoulders defining the flanges 2l. The head I! of the threaded stud fits snugly within the recess provided by the counter-bore I and the oppositely disposed recess 22 and is prevented from turning by interlocking engagement of the knurled surfaces even though it may not have direct attachment to the parts with which it is associated. The inner and outer members are held rigidly and accurately in required longitudinal relation by the head I! of the stud which interlocks with both parts. The assembled cap may be plated as a complete article or its separate parts may be individually plated before being assembled.

It will be noted that all the operations called for in the production of our novel cap are such as may be carried out automatically at high speed and without requiring special skill on the part of the operator. The two blanks are entirely formed by die-pressing or swaging operations. The studs I6 may be turned out rapidly with the assistance of automatic screw machinery and on account of the interlocking fit of the component parts the assembling operation may be also carried out conveniently and at high speed either automatically or by hand.

In Fig. 11 is shown a cap of modified construction in which many of the advantages of the present invention are realized. The outer member 20--2l is substantially identical to that already described. The inner member 30, however, is not folded but comprises merely a slightly dished elongated piece of sheet steel having parallel longitudinal edges shaped to fit between the shoulders of the flanges 3|. Instead of a bladelocating rib the member 30 is drilled not only for the screw stud IE but for a pair of shorter bladelocating studs 3|. These may also be headed and held in any selected position by the connection of the inner and outer members of the cap.

Another advantage of our invention is that it improves the general appearance of the cap and the safety razor in which it is used as compared to those previously available. The exterior view of the cap presents a wide central panel defined by graceful shoulders of pleasing proportions with the general effect of artistic surface ornamentation.

Having thus disclosed our invention and de-,

scribed in detail two illustrative embodiments thereof, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: r

l. The process of making a rigid cap for safety razors which is characterized by the steps of forming an elongated sheet metal outer member having marginal flanges and a central channel, separately forming an inner member of sheet metal of dimensions to fitwithin the channel and provided with a blade-locating projection, inserting a headed stud through one member, and then fastening the inner and outer members together, thereby holding the stud in place between them. 7

2. A process of making a rigid cap for safety razors, comprising the steps of shaping from sheet metal an elongated member having parallel outwardly directed flanges, separately forming from sheet material a member having a base of a width to fit between the said flanges and provided with a blade-locating rib substantially twice the base thickness, inserting a headed stud through the inner member and securing the inner and outer members together.

3. The process of making a rigid cap for safety.

razors which consists in forming from sheet metal an elongated outer member having spaced parallel flanges, separately forming from sheet metal an inner member longitudinally doubled to present an upstanding rib and having outturned base flanges spanning'the space between the parallel flanges of the outer member, assembling the two members withtheir respective flanges in longitudinal contact, and permanently securing them in that position.

4. The process of making a rigid cap for safety razors which includes the steps of forming from sheet steel an inner member folded to present a central rib and. base flanges longer than the rib, shaping the base flanges into substantial contact beyond the ends of the rib, separately shaping an outer member having shoulders therein spaced apart to receive the flanges of the inner member, interlocking both members with a stud to fix of the stud extending outwardly through the rib 10 thereof, countersinking the head of the stud in the base flanges, separately forming an outer member from sheet metal to present blade-clamping portions which embrace between them the base flanges of said inner member, and connecting the two members by securing the base flanges of said inner member to the blade-clamping portions of the outer member and thereby enclosing the head of the stud.

THEODORE L. SMITH. JOSEPH MUROS. 

